Battle for Tikrit Enters Second Week

[Jesus Malverde]

1. As Iranian commander and Shiite militias spearhead attack on Tikrit, more questions than answers eme

As lines of Iraqi Humvees and trucks jammed the roads to Tikrit with thousands of Iraqi forces looking well-motivated and itching for battle, on the surface this would point to all the positive signs ? Iraq was finally ready to banish the Islamic State (IS) from their doorstep.


However, as Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, pointed out, eventual recapture of Tikrit is not the burning question.

The key issue is the security and political apparatus that is left behind to support Tikrit and other Sunni towns that are retaken.


Whilst Sunni tribal forces play a role in the battle for Tikrit, it is the unmissable presence of thousands of Shiite militia supervised by commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani that speaks volumes.

http://www.kurdishglobe.net/article/AE8B37A6289AB2E21D1429B63D071ACD/As-Iranian-commander-and-Shiite-militias-spearhead-attack-on-Tikrit-more-questions-than-answers-emerge-from-Iraq.html